Wait, you were flirting with me?
by RoboFoxtrot
Summary: "Something isn't right. This feels like a set up," Oliver whispered quietly reaching for his coms. "Bluebird this is Cardinal, we've got an all clear up here, little too clear to be honest. I don't even see a dog runn-," In the blink of an eye the world dropped from beneath the two soldiers. Military AU


Preface

**Wait, you were flirting with me?**  
Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at /works/20794205.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warning: Choose Not To Use Archive Warnings Category: M/M Fandom: Arrow (TV 2012) Relationship: Oliver Queen/Slade Wilson Character: Oliver Queen, Slade Wilson, John Diggle, Billy Wintergreen Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Military, Trapped, Hurt Oliver Queen, Hurt slade wilson, slade tries to flirt, Sladiver week 2019 Stats: Published: 2019-09-27 Words: 3160 Wait, you were flirting with me?

by RoboFoxtrot

Summary

"Something isn't right. This feels like a set up," Oliver whispered quietly reaching for his coms. "Bluebird this is Cardinal, we've got an all clear up here, little too clear to be honest. I don't even see a dog runn-," In the blink of an eye the world dropped from beneath the two soldiers. Or Oliver and Slade end up trapt in a blown up building, surrounded by people trying to kill them.

Wait, you were flirting with me?

Sweat dripped down Oliver's back in rivlets as he lay still as death on top of the roof, focusing his scope on the building their target was supposed to be in, watching carefully for any signs of movement. Sometimes waiting in the heat and grit of the desert for hours on end really made Oliver miss the comforts of home, he hated the heat. Tommy would rub it in his face if he knew Oliver was missing home because of a little heat.

No one in his family had taken it well when Oliver had enlisted right out of highschool. They assumed he joined to spite his father, which to be fair was partially true, but he had also wanted to do something important in his life. He realised following in his father's footsteps wasn't something he wanted from life when he attended his first college class. The only thing that had been going through his mind was how little he wanted to spend his entire life in some office with glass windows.

Thoughts of the recruiting center he had passed by that morning came to the forefront of his mind. Honestly, he hadn't given it much thought, just stood up halfway through the class, walked the entire way to the recruitment center, and enlisted right then and there. It may have been a rash decision but he'd never regretted a second of it, not even when his father nearly disowned him. His mother's reaction was the worst though, the screaming and sobbing had nearly broken his heart, many hours had been spent telling her he wasn't going to die, that she wasn't going to have to put one of her children to rest. When it came to telling Thea, she had just gotten up and hugged him, whispering for him to be safe.

Oliver could say with absolute certainty that joining the army was the best decision of his life. He'd gone straight into becoming a ranger serving for 3 years before applying to become a green beret, learning he had a knack for languages and sharp shooting had made training a little easier. Working with other foreign agencies kind of sucked sometimes though, he tended to attract the weird ones.

Speaking of weird, something didn't feel right about this mission, where are the guards, where are the civilians, this was supposed to be a heavily populated area not a ghost town. Glancing to his right at the man laying next to him, their eyes met for a split second. Oliver could tell Slade, an ASIS agent he was currently assigned too, was thinking the same thing.

"Something isn't right. This feels like a set up," Oliver whispered quietly reaching for his coms. "Bluebird this is Cardinal, we've got an all clear up here, little too clear to be honest. I don't even see a dog runn-," In the blink of an eye the world dropped from beneath the two soldiers. They dropped two stories, landing in a heap with debris falling around them.

Oliver felt like he was choking on dirt as he hacked up half a lung trying to breathe normally. A hand grabbed onto the back of his vest pulling him back down when he tried to get up in a disoriented state.

"Shh, don't move kid," Slade whispered holding him in place.

Grunting, Oliver shifted around, taking a second to check for injuries before asking, "Where the hell did that come from?"

"No idea. My comms are down, check and see if you can reach the team," Slade ordered, gathering their weapons and checking outside for any sign of insurgents. "You're not injured are you?"

Reaching for his comm set, Oliver grunted when Slade threw his whole body on top of him. Another explosion to their right blew the last of the remaining supports holding the building together causing it to crumble to the side. He heard Slade yell out in pain as everything went black.

Slade stared up at the small opening to the sky above him hazily. Dark clouds blew past and the blue of the sky has turned grey like the sky was about to open up on him. Blinking slowly he turned his head to the side, slowly taking in the wreckage around him, trying to remember where he was, but something was making it hard to focus. A few feet away from him, partially covered with debris, was Oliver.

Reaching a hand out to the unconscious man, Slade cried out when a sharp crack of pain ran through his entire body, making him gag slightly at the intensity of it. Taking a few shuddering breaths, he looked down at his left side and stared for a few moments before fully registering what it was he was looking at. A piece of shrapnel had completely gone through his left bicep and partially into his side, blood seemed to be slowly oozing out, good maybe nothing major had been hit. Glancing back up to the sky he realised it wasn't rain clouds he'd seen earlier but plumes of smoke and ash turning everything a hazy grey.

"Oliver," Slade croaked, coughing slightly try to breathe through the dust in the air. "Oliver wake up kid. It's not safe, we can't stay here." His right hand clenched around a few rocks nearby and carefully tossed them at the other soldier, trying not to aggravate his wound, only to hiss sharply when it sent a jolt of pain anyway.

A groan of frustration escaped Slade when Oliver didn't move, at least he was still breathing Slade reasoned. Reaching into his leg pouch to pull out an emergency tourniquet, he carefully wrapped it around his injured arm to stem the bleeding, Slade looked over at Oliver again, still nothing. Damnit.

"Alright, Slade. Get it together. You can do this. You. Can. Fucking. Do this!" Slade grunted, pushing himself inch by inch to the other man.

It kind of pissed Slade off that he was the one who took the brunt of the second blast and Oliver was the unconscious one, possibly trapped under the fallen building. Seriously though, his act of bravery wasn't very impressive when the kid was more injured than himself. Slade had been trying to impress Oliver, literally, every time they'd worked together. He had blatantly flirted with the operative only for it to go right over the kid's head. It had become a running joke for his teammates to imitate his attempts at flirting with Oliver between each other, or at the bar on an unsuspecting person. Fucking cunts the lot of them.

Finally, Slade managed to drag himself next to Oliver, gently reaching out to try and nudge him awake. Dragging himself across the floor had dislodged the shrapnel from his side and he desperately needed Oliver's help to get it patched up. When the other soldier didn't react, Slade pinched the inside of his arm, right next to his armpit, as hard as he could. The result was instant, Oliver's head shot up and his eyes flickered around the hole they were laying in, trying to understand what was going on. Automatically his hand went for his weapon trapped underneath him.

"Hey calm down kid, it's just us, for now at least," Slade grumbled, relaxing as much as possible on the uneven ground beneath him. "Someone will probably be coming to check for survivors soon, better pray for our team to get here first. I don't think either of us are ambulatory."

Slade watched as Oliver laid his head down, taking a few deep breaths, body shuddering in pain, before looking over at Slade. He had his full focus on Slade so the chances of a concussion were slim, miracle really.

"What happened? I didn't see anyone," Oliver rasped.

"It was an RPG, saw the guy right before the second blast, damn lucky we're still alive. Speaking of being alive, I need your help patching my side up," Slade said, grunting as he hauled himself up into a sitting position using a slab of rock to lean back on.

Oliver's eyes widened comically as he stared at the piece of shrapnel stuck through Slade's arm and the wound on his side. There was blood flowing from between the other man's fingers as he tried to hold pressure onto the open wound, he looked increasingly pale. Snapping into action, Oliver pulled himself forward sharply, nearly let out a howl of pain when lightning raced down his side, likely some bruised if not broken ribs. Panting heavily, Oliver tried again, managing to drag himself almost completely free of the rubble, except for his left ankle. It was wedged underneath some rubble, thankfully Oliver was pretty sure he could free himself, it would just hurt like hell.

"Gonna be ok kid?" Slade asked staring at Oliver with concern. "Anything broken?"

"Few ribs maybe, left ankle is caught, I should be able to free it though," Oliver replied, bracing himself mentally before pulling as hard as he could on his leg. His vision whited out as he finally freed himself and the blood started to flow back to his previously numb foot, alerting him to the fact his ankle was probably broken.

Oliver felt Slade's hand grip his tightly, offering comfort as he tried to quell his stomach, puking right now might actually break his ribs, if they weren't already.

"It's gonna be ok kid, team's gonna come for us," Slade told him without a doubt.

"How do you know they don't think we're already dead? The building collapsed three stories, like you said earlier, it's a miracle we're still alive." Oliver asked. Carefully, Oliver ran a hand down his side feeling for broken ribs, praying for bruised ones. He let out a sigh of relief when nothing felt broken.

"Thought you were the optimistic one out of us. Isn't one of your mottos no man left behind, alive or dead, or something like that," Slade teased, wiping a bead of sweat from his eye. It was hotter than hell down here.

"Something like that. And no, I'm realistic," Oliver snarked back at him. Pulling gauze and tape from one of his pant pockets, Oliver shuffled closer, reaching to examine Slade's wound. "Doesn't seem like it hit anything vital, mostly muscle and some veins, explains the bleeding."

"Quite convenient you had some gaze in your pockets. Get hurt a lot, pretty boy?" Slade asked sweetly watching as Oliver turned a noticeable shade redder, ducking his head down. A smirk overtook Slade's face, finally the kid responded to his attempts at flirting. "Aw, you getting shy on me blondie."

Ignoring the older man, Oliver continued to work on patching him up, smirking when he elected a sharp hiss of pain.

"Ow! Not shy to touch obviously, jesus kid," Slade yelped, gritting his teeth. Sweat beaded down his face, burning any cuts it touched. "Maybe I should teach you a thing or two about being gentle."

"Careful, I might think you're flirting with me," Oliver said, getting even redder. He missed the incredulous look Slade shot him as he shifted to sit next to the other man.

"Are you delirious? Has the heat gone to your head? Of cours-," Slade's rant was cut short when Oliver snapped a hand over his mouth.

Raising a finger to his lips and then pointing up, Oliver alerted Slade to the raised voices from above them gradually getting louder but still too far away to hear what was being said. Both of the soldiers raised their weapons at the opening above them, praying it was their team and not an enemy combatant. Oliver held his breath as the steps got closer, the pumping of blood in his veins sounded almost deafening in his ears. He could feel Slade tensing up beside him as he struggled to hold his weapon up with one arm.

Focusing on calming his breathing, Oliver took aim and fired upon the first enemy to walk into sight. The man quickly dropped, along with two others who walked into firing range. He could feel a bullet zip right past his head and embed itself into the rubble next to him as the insurgents returned fire. As quickly as it started the shooting came to a stop, dust slowly started to settle.

A loud groan quickly directed Oliver's attention towards the Australian next to him. He was hunched over on himself, clutching at his side with his one good arm. Glancing back up at the entrance, Oliver lightly nudged Slade with his shoulder.

"Can you tell how bad it is?" He whispered, not taking his eyes off the hole above them. His team should have heard the gunfight if they were still close by, which Oliver was willing to bet they were, all he had to do was hold off anyone else that came looking.

Slade grunted in response, worrying Oliver even more. He was reluctant to put his focus into aiding Slade and leave them defenseless, but if he didn't, Slade might not make it anyway. They were sitting ducks in the middle of enemy territory, praying that help would come in time.

"I am," Slade growled.

"What? You are what?" Oliver asked, confusion written across his face. Maybe Slade was worse off than he thought, he wasn't making any sense. Quickly setting his rifle down, Oliver leaned over towards Slade. "Let me see."

"I am flirting with you... and pick your gun back up, I'll be fine," Slade said, slapping Oliver's hand away weakly.

Loud crunching of boots walking towards them snapped Oliver back into action. He quickly picked his rifle back up, aiming it towards the sound.

"Friendly friendly," was called out, making both soldiers sag in relief.

"Down here," Oliver called out, "We need a medic immediately." Setting his gun beside him, Oliver shuffled closer to Slade and pushed the other man flat onto his back.

"Guess you were right after all," Oliver joked. His hands pulled Slade's away from the wound, examining it for a second before applying pressure. "It's a through and through, can't tell if anything vital was hit though."

Snorting weakly, Slade tried to smile at Oliver, although it came across as more of a grimace, "Told you so goldilocks."

The sound of both team medics sliding down into the hole distracted Oliver from responding as he quickly relayed both their injuries. He could tell Slade was fading fast when his head lolled to the side. Hands pulled him up and away from the Australian, gripping tight when he struggled to get away.

"Calm down man, let the medics do their job." His team leader ordered, rolling him onto a stretcher. "Get him stable. We need to move, exfil is 5 mics out."

Sagging down limply onto the stretcher, Oliver groaned in pain when his side roughly caught the edge of some rubble when he was pulled through the hole. The adrenaline that had numbed his earlier pain seemed to just disappear, leaving unadulterated pain in its wake, still the only thing he could think of was Slade. Panting heavily through the pain, Oliver grabbed onto his teammate's wrist pulling him down.

"Tell Slade that if he ever wants a date, he better not die," Oliver ground out, "make sure he knows, Dig."

Chuckling lightly, Dig assured Oliver he'd relay the message. "Pretty sure he'll make it through, dude's been trying to get your attention for the past year or so. Helo is here, so I'm going to give you a shot of morphine, dull the pain, before we load up."

Nodding slightly, Oliver relaxed his grip on Diggle's wrist as the morphine took effect, leaving him feeling weightless and numb. Minutes after everyone was loaded up and headed back, Oliver allowed unconsciousness to take hold.

-  
"Ow," was all Oliver said when he awoke to a bright light shining in his eyes.

"Welcome back to the land of the living Oliver," Diggle gave a strained laugh from the corner, "Had me worried for a second there when you passed out."

"My bad. Can you turn off the light at least, my head is killing me," Oliver groaned, clenching his eyes shut. Only when he heard Diggle flip the switch did he try and open his eyes again.

"That would be the nasty concussion you received. Damn lucky it wasn't worse than a few bruised ribs, a broken ankle, and the concussion." Diggle told him as he walked back over and flipped into the chair next to Oliver.

Eyes snapping open, Oliver whipped his head to the side, "What about Slade, is he ok?"

"Calm down, dude's gonna be fine. Nothing major was damaged, just gonna be in a lot of pain for a while." Diggled smirked, "Pretty sure he really wanted that date."

Oliver let out a shaky laugh in relief, "Did you know he's been flirting with me? This entire time I've been obsessing over him, asking him for help on things I know how to do, just all around making a fool of myself, and no one thought to tell me he liked me too?"

"To be honest," Diggle laughed, "we made a bet to see how long it would take both of you two to get a clue. If it makes you feel better, pretty sure he hasn't realised you were flirting with him still." Diggled clapped Oliver on the shoulder making him grunt in pain. "You're ahead of the curve this time buddy."

Oliver looked at Diggle with a deadpan look, "I hate you sometimes. Now help me to his room."

"Whoa man," Diggle launched himself over to Oliver holding him down, ignoring the snarl he got in return. "Don't think the doc wants you moving around."

"Either you go get a wheelchair and help me then or I'll just crawl there. You know I'll do it Dig, don't test me," Oliver threatened, glaring at Diggle until he finally caved. "Thanks buddy! You're the best," he called out after Diggle's retreating back, laughing when he was flipped off.

-  
Slade eyes fluttered open slightly to a warm soft pressure on his lips followed by obnoxiously loud cheering and laughing. Blinking a few times to focus, the first thing he saw was Oliver's smile looking down on him. A goofy smile spread across his face, eliciting more laughter and a few coos.

"Well would you look at that, a kiss woke sleeping beauty," howled Wintergreen from the end of the bed, ignoring the glare from Slade. Another bout of laughter erupted from the men in the room.

"Laugh it up but I'm pretty sure the real beauty here promised me a date," Slade gloated, focusing his gaze on Oliver next to him.

"Yeah I did, didn't I," Oliver said fondly as he gazed at the Australian, "Guess you're going to have to hurry and get better then."

Hand clenching Oliver tight, Slade smiled brightly, "I feel better already."

Afterword

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